


beyond the sea

by neverwantedtodance



Series: my youth (is yours) [4]
Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Sexual Tension, Slice of Life, mentions of yoshidia, the ambiguous conclusion to the ambiguous series all about ambiguous relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 01:03:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13869780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverwantedtodance/pseuds/neverwantedtodance
Summary: Mari pouts once she sees the contents of the passenger seat. “I can’t believe this. I’ve been replaced by groceries.”“Groceries I can get rid of,” Dia corrects her. “You, on the other hand, I can’t seem to escape.”





	beyond the sea

**Author's Note:**

> so i guess this is a series now huh ,,,  
> when i wrote 'a study in lingerie' way back in september i didn't imagine i would do a sequel, let alone a series ehehe but it kind of spiraled into its own universe with its own story so i just had to write it!  
> i started this back in october, with additions made in december, and then finished most of it in march  
> so this fic has gone on a bit of a journey lol  
> i hope you all enjoy this fic!! it's kind of an accumulation of all the ideas i wanted to present in this series so i hope you all like it  
> and if you haven't read the other works in this series i hope you read and enjoy them too!!
> 
> italics is used for when mari speaks english :)

Dia hums along to the song on the radio as she drives. The bottles in the plastic grocery bags sat on the passenger seat next to her clinked together. It was a Friday afternoon, she was home from university for the weekend, and there was still a slight hum of summer in the air.

Life is good.

She thinks of her friends in Uchiura. It would be fun to see everyone again and catch up on news. Her mind turns to Yoshiko in particular then, and she smiles. They were a lot closer than most high school friends were. Maybe once she got back they could meet up during the weekend.

Turning her head slightly, her eyes strayed to the backseat of her car.

She coughs, and straightens her wing mirror. Normally she was a steady driver, and she wasn’t going to let anything change that.

The ocean roars quietly and she slows down slightly, the privilege of being the only driver on the road allowing her the pleasure of sightseeing in her own hometown. Further along the sidewalk there was a figure stood, watching the waves just like Dia was. As her car grew closer she notices who the person is, and a shard of ice buries itself suddenly in her heart.

The person turns slightly at the sound of the car, and once they notice who it is, runs over to the side of it.

Dia feels like she has no choice but to pull over, because after all these years she still can’t help but be drawn to Mari Ohara like a magnet.

She rolls the window down, letting the sound of seagulls and the still warm afternoon breeze wash over her. Mari looks like she hasn’t aged a day since 14, and Dia feels a muscle in her face twitch.

Mari pouts once she sees the contents of the passenger seat. “I can’t believe this. I’ve been replaced by groceries.”

“Groceries I can get rid of,” Dia corrects her. “You, on the other hand, I can’t seem to escape.”

“ _It’s my charm_ ,” Mari says. “It’s inescapable. Are you gonna let me in or what?”

Dia turns her head. Her grocery bags seemingly stare beseechingly back at her.

She sighs and turns the engine off. “Help me move them to the boot then.”

* * *

Mari turns her radio up, Dia turns it down. Mari rolls her window up and down, Dia locks the windows with the special child protection lock. Mari laughs at this, and then her hand moves towards the air conditioning. In a feat she’s quite proud of, Dia manages to flick her hand away whilst indicating. Eventually they’ve driven round in a circle and are back at the beach again. They haven’t said a word to each other.

Dia pulls over again.

“I hope you’re not going to tell me to get out,” Mari says, staring at the sea. Her face is hidden from Dia by a curtain of golden hair. The strands move back and forth slightly in the wind, and Mari’s body subtly shifts every now and again. Dia wants to grab her and make her still.

She sighs. “I’m not going to tell you to get out. If you want to waste my fuel and drive around Uchiura with me for an hour, then sure. But I’d like to ask you some questions first.”

Mari giggles, turning to face Dia. She’s wearing a white flowing blouse that exposes her tanned shoulders. She reminds Dia of the bottle of sparkling Prosecco that was previously occupying the passenger seat.

Still chuckling, she says “Alrighty, Officer Dia, ask away.”

Dia turns so now they’re both properly facing each other. She briefly gets distracted by the brown flecks in Mari’s gold eyes before snapping back to herself.

“Why are you here?”

“That’s a bit vague! I’m in your car because you let me.”

Dia tries again in her interrogation. “Why are you in Uchiura?”

Mari shrugs. “Ohara family gathering, _Japanese side_. I just got back from Italy yesterday. Why are you here?”

“Visiting home, just like you. What do you want?”

“You’re not very good at interrogating me.” Mari sighs. “You need to be more specific.”

Dia’s patience is being severely tested. She braces herself for round three of the interrogation, and hopes third time’s the charm.

“What do you want from me, right now, right here, in my car.”

“In Uchiura, Japan, the Earth, the universe,” Mari says, the corner of her lips turning up in a smirk. “There are a few different answers to that question.” Her eyes flick down, to Dia’s lips. Dia tenses. It’s both a comfort and a danger that she’s not the only one distracted right now.

“I don’t know whether I should stay away from you or come closer,” Mari says suddenly, looking melancholic. Dia laughs, unable to help herself.

“I should be saying that to you, not the other way around …” Her voice trails off, and she bites her lip. “Ever since the last time we saw each other, I’ve been thinking about you,” she confesses.

“Now it’s me that should be saying that to you,” Mari says with a short, humorous laugh. “Three years, and we’re still the same hopeless idiots. You’d think something at least would change.”

Dia smiles along with her. “You were my awakening, Mari,” she says. “And I was so scared.” Her voice cracks on the last word. She still doesn't know what she’s scared of - losing control, maybe, like she was all those years ago. Now she feels that maybe being with Mari will give her control.

She startles when she feels a hand rest upon her arm. Mari’s staring at her, a concerned expression on her face. Then she smiles, and Dia can’t help but smile back.

“How about we go for a walk on the beach?” she asks. “I spied a bottle of Prosecco in one of those bags too. Nice to see my influence. _Let’s treat ourselves_!”

Dia rolls her eyes. “Nothing gets past you, Mari,” she says, but unbuckles her seatbelt anyway.

* * *

They walk along the beach, passing the bottle back and forth. The past and the future are both banned topics, they’ve silently decided, so they talk about the present. Mostly, Mari talks of business in Italy.

“Lots of men in expensive suits trying to tell me what to do,” she huffs. “There’s a group of bosses that have it in for me particularly, and they stink of cigar smoke.” She pulls a face.

“Yoshiko smokes too.” Dia shudders. “I hate it.”

Mari’s expression turns sly, but Dia knows she’ll never be malicious anymore. They’re too similar to each other and too world-weary to take jabs at each other’s relationships.

“How are things with the fallen angel? Or have you moved on?”

Dia shrugs, then realises that isn’t an answer. “We’re friends… with benefits,” she finishes after a look from Mari. It’s a term she hates using, though. Though they will always be friends the depth of their intimacy, not just physical but emotional, has exceeded anything that can be described with words.

“It’s kind of an open relationship,” she adds on quickly, though she doesn’t know quite why she’s said it - only that when Mari smirks at her in an understanding way it makes her stomach flip.

Mari nods. “I see. Well, I’ve had a few since you last saw me, but no one special. I don’t really understand what love is,” she says, staring out to sea.

Dia looks at her, studies the angles of her face and the softness of her skin.

“Well, that makes two of us,” she says after a minute of silence.

Mari drinks.

“ _Love means never having to say you’re sorry_ ,” she says.

“What?”

Mari starts to run towards the waves, the hem of her long white skirt getting wet from the sea foam. “It’s from a movie!” she calls back, laughing as the waves crash against her.

“You idiot! You’re going to catch a cold,” Dia yells at her, running to catch up with her.

“For once in your life, Dia, do something without thinking about it first!”

Dia’s breath catches in her throat. The last rays of the sun catch Mari’s hair, making it glow golden in the sunset. There’s no sound but the sea and the seagulls, and the taste of Prosecco is on her tongue.

“Okay,” she says to herself, “okay.”

Bottle in her hand, she runs to the sea, to Mari.

* * *

“My jeans are soaked,” she moans. “This is why I think about things before I do them.”

Mari shrugs, wringing the water out her skirt. “But it was fun at the time, wasn’t it? What counts are the good memories.”

Dia stares at her for a moment. She smells like honey and sea salt.

“I suppose you’re right,” she replies.

They sit in silence for a while, leaning against her car and finishing the bottle while they watch the sun set.

“I wanted control,” Dia says suddenly. Mari looks at her.

“Sorry. I just feel like I should … justify myself to you.”

“Is that what love is?” Mari says in a teasing voice, nudging Dia’s shoulder with her own.

“Maybe it is,” Dia replies in a small voice. Mari stills.

“I always felt like I needed control in everything. I guess that continued over to relationships. And I felt like I couldn’t control what I felt for you.”

“... What do you feel for me?” Mari asks, her voice soft, barely above a whisper. Dia’s gaze is drawn to her lips. She swallows.

“I don’t know … how to say it out loud.”

“You don’t have to,” Mari replies, and presses her lips against Dia’s.

She feels Mari’s fingers curl into her hair, wanting and wild - and it’s everything she remembered it to be. She gasps, overcome, and the empty bottle slips out her hands and clatters to the pavement. Miraculously, it doesn’t break, but rolls away until it hits the low fence separating the beach and the road.

They pull away from each other. Mari’s cheeks are dusted pink.

“Oh shit,” she says, a small laugh escaping her as she fetches the bottle. Dia tries to control herself.

“I didn’t realise how much I wanted that,” she says, mostly to herself, but Mari replies anyway.

“Me too,” she admits. “Guess I’ve still got it, huh?” She laughs at her own joke.

“Now what?” Dia asks, hesitantly. She’s almost afraid to ask. Although Yoshiko taught her to live in the moment there’s still a part of her that’s scared of the unknown. She doesn’t think that part of her will ever go away.

Mari hums, short and sweet, under her breath.

“Are you happy with your life at the moment?” she asks suddenly. Dia blinks.

“I … Yes. I am.”

Mari shrugs. “And would being with me make you happy? Or happier?”

Dia thinks about the way Mari’s lips felt against her own. The kiss was brief, and yet desire flows through her veins like melted gold. She nods.

“Then live your life now the way you want to and make yourself as happy as you can,” Mari says.

“How did you get so wise?” Dia asks her, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Mari laughs. “Remember how many mistakes I made when we were in high school? I guess I just got tired of regretting things.”

Dia ponders that. “I think I am too,” she replies. She starts when she feels Mari’s fingers lacing around her own.

“You have no idea how much you … consumed me,” Mari says breathlessly. “I want you so badly, Dia.”

Dia feels her cheeks flush red. She’s dizzy with thoughts of Mari, and as she brings her hand up to trace’s Mari’s lips she notices she’s trembling slightly.

“Look what you’re doing to me,” she mutters, before drawing Mari closer to her and claiming her lips once more.

In between heat-fueled kisses and sighs, she hears Mari speak in gasps of air.

“My youth - it was yours. It was you.”

Dia’s response comes in between her teeth sinking down into Mari’s bottom lip and her hands circling Mari’s back. Her fingers slip under her shirt, settling in the dip in her back.

“Mine too. You were mine.”

They both know, despite their newfound philosophy of focusing on the present, there are things they need to talk to each other about. But right now Dia just wants to focus on the way Mari’s body feels pressed against her own.

She breaks away for just a moment, to unlock the car.

“Get in,” she says, before realises she’s ordering her about. “If you want to.”

Mari laughs. Her hair is windswept and messy from Dia’s fingers, and her eyes are gleaming.

“Look at me, Dia. Of course I want to.”

Dia turns the keys, starting the engine. “Where to?” she asks.

Mair smirks at her. It’s one of her favourite Mari smirks, suggestive and beautiful.

“Wherever you want,” Mari answers.

Smiling, Dia drives away from the sea.

**Author's Note:**

> the thrilling final conclusion !!! i hope everyone has enjoyed reading this series bc i've enjoyed writing it a lot!  
> and yeah this is the final part ;w; which is kinda sad  
> but who knows maybe i'll do a lantis and bring this series back for 'my youth is yours all stars' lmao  
> but seriously i say it's finished but knowing me there may be a part 5 or 6 next year haha  
> there are some missing parts of the story so i may wanna write those but honestly i'm kind of happy with the ambiguous nature of this series, i feel like it suits the tone
> 
> ENOUGH RAMBLING!!! i hope u all enjoyed this, if you did please leave kudos and comments bc i love feedback so much! and if you liked this maybe try reading my other fics?  
> thank you so much for reading :o


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